Every time I wonder if there's anything sinking in, or think that we're not doing 'enough' of the 'right' kind of math, I invariably run across jewels like these which put my mind and heart at ease...at least until the next fallow period.
A week ago we were both playing around with a nice Christmas gift of a felt board, colorful felt triangles and some awesome design cards.
Yesterday I challenged her with some of these designs and watched her approximating and adjusting angles, creating strategies for reproducing the designs, turning and flipping the triangles, and predicting the growth of the triangle pattern in the upper left corner.
Also of note, the child sat herself down today and, after weeks of conversations about what she might want to do with a pool of money collected from various sources (holidays, allowance, odd jobs, etc.), devised this budget. (Annotated translation below.)
It says this:
I have $50
Spend $25
Save $25
Cocoa [hand-made stuffed kitty] spending $5 [Meaning she's putting aside that money for things it 'needs'.]
Biscuit [lovey kitty] spending $5 ["And then I'll have $15 to spend on myself Mama!"]
Things I need or want too expensive for me: my own ice skates
List of things Biscuit needs: 4 pairs of socks
Me: "Why four pairs?"
Kid: "Because he has four legs, silly!"
Me: "But pairs come in two...does Biscuit have eight legs?"
Kid: "Oh, right! He'll need two pairs of socks!!"
[Me, thinking to myself: iconic multiplication!!]
Things Cocoa needs
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We do all kinds of math these days -- reading living math books, games, design activities, drawing, noticing things when we go out, engaging in loooong conversations about the fate of her Christmas money and, yes, some workbook stuff. Taking the long view, I suppose that what I want most for her is that math becomes both useful and personally meaningful for her. I think today proves we're headed in the right direction.
Yes, I can definitely relate to all those nagging doubts :) I love the budget she came up with and the math in it. M is also saving money. He's not tried a budget yet since there's only one thing he wants to buy with all the money saved. Today we talked about probabilities and how some things are not at all likely, others are certain and how there are various degrees of certainty/likelihood in between, like a thermometer. So he drew a "likelihood thermometer" for the toy he wants and saves for and let's just say the temp can't go any higher :)
ReplyDeleteAt the heart of toddler learning is play. For young children, play isn’t just fun; it’s a vital way of making sense of their world.
ReplyDeleteThe socks moment is the gem here: she starts from four legs, jumps to four pairs, and your question — "does Biscuit have eight legs?" — lets her catch the unit error herself and land on two pairs, which is exactly what grouping by twos means. The budget shows the same skill in another form, with $50 split into $25 to spend and $25 to save, then $5 each for the two kitties leaving $15 for herself. It is a lovely example of how much mathematical thinking hides inside an ordinary list, and how a single well-placed question can turn it into learning. Full disclosure: I run the free tool site factorcalculator.org, where students can explore multiples and factors for any number.
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